Break in Posting

I try to post every day but I know my schedule is jam packed until Sunday. Tomorrow I am meeting some college roommates for dinner, drinks and a play called, "Trip to Bountiful." Saturday will be busy with a birding field trip to Carlos Avery, some birthday parties and a full evening of work. Talk at you Sunday.

Now I Want To Plant Purple Salvia

I was telling a friend of mine about my owl encounter yesterday. She was dutifully impressed. She told me of a bird encounter of her own. She was on her deck in Shoreview. She was busy deadheading her purple salvia in her container garden. She saw a hummingbird around so she sat on a chair and held a stalk of "past their prime" purple salvia flowers in her hand. Low and behold, a hummingbird approached her and as she held the flower stalk a foot from her face, gracefully danced around the stalk and methodically took nectar from each and every blossom. My friend said her husband was in the house but did not come to the deck door to see this miracle. No one witnessed it but her. She had no camera to record the moment. She felt chosen for that moment and I knew exactly what she meant. My friend said she tried to reenact that moment several more times that summer with no success. What an awesome story! Now I want to plant purple salvia.

Saddlebags!

Looky! See here? I got saddlebags on my bike today. My friend, Ed, came over with saddlebags. They cost $50 and are worth twice as much. He put them on and adjusted the length. While he was there he checked the oil, showed me how to change it, and polished up the chrome with Windex and clean rags. I told him I could do that part but he wanted to. Ed, he's a peach. Now I am all set. I could even go on an overnight ride. Hmmmm, who's up for a trip down the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi to, say, Winona?

Webinar

A coworker says to me, "You are coming to the webinar today, right?"

I respond, "No."

She asks, "At 2 o'clock?"

I say, "We're having a meeting in the computer lab with the guy on the speaker phone."

She tells me, "That is a webinar."

I say, "Yes, I'm going to a webinar."

I learn something new almost every day. The only difference between a webinar and a group in the computer lab with a guy on speaker phone is that the guy on speaker phone is projecting his computer images to us. If he wiggles his mouse, the mouse on our screen wiggles. If he opens a window, we see it happening. Did I learn any faster because of the webinar format? Actually, no. I'd prefer to wiggle my mouse myself.

Horse Flow Chart

April Showers

Finally we got some rain today. The thunder and lightening are an added bonus. All week I could see the tree buds swelling with potential but not popping open. Today things are opening up. My crab apple trees have red flower buds. The basswood tree has buds. The maple tree has buds. The red oaks have dropped their leaves. Even a red-twigged dogwood branch that I cut off last fall and stuck into a planter for decoration has tiny leaves opening on it. I've been bringing in dandelion leaves for Migwe, my canary. He loves dandelion leaves more than any other leaf. I've tried celery leaves, lettuce, fresh parsley, bok choy, and kale but dandelion is his favorite.

in

A Blessed Week

Today I saw a horned lark. I met both my birding goals in the span of 6 days. We met at Fish Lake at the southern edge of the Cedar Creek Nature Center in northeastern Anoka County. And there, standing on top of a house in a new development, was a horned lark. I've been told to look for horned larks on the ground in prairie areas or in fields. No one said to look at the roof of a house. But there it was. We had a good birding trip. We saw meadowlarks, tree swallows, trumpeter swans (really close), a loon, sandhill cranes, a flock of white pelicans, yellow-rumped warblers, song sparrows, field sparrows, flickers and hairy woodpeckers. We had hoped to see a red headed woodpecker. They are known to nest here. In fact the trees where red headeds nested last year are marked with tape around the trunks. We saw 5 trees marked with tape but no red headed woodpeckers. Red headed woodpeckers are rare. Some people think they will be extinct in ten years so I'd really like to see one. But boy, was it cold standing on the south shore of a lake at 7:15 a.m! The wind of the past few days blew up some foam. I saw pieces of foam that had been thrown 20 feet from the water. Despite my layers, I got cold. My fingers were numb inside my gloves. This has been a very good week for me.

Windy Much?

The wind has been blowing hard the past two days. I rode my motorcycle to work for the first time on Thursday. On my ride home I felt like the wind was trying to push my bike out from underneath me. To compensate, I sat on the side of the seat that the wind was pushing and that helped. When it is windy like this, I worry about a tree in my yard toppling down into the driveway. That tree was fine. Another tree deeper into the woods in the back yard but that is also fine. That tree will give the pileated woodpeckers more food to eat. What unexpected plant blew over? My 9 year old lilac bush tilted to the north. I've been watering and pruning that bush for 9 years. I am surprised it blew over. And it's full of buds. What a rotten time for this to happen. I staked it upright and gave it a long drink of water. I'm crossing my fingers the Charles Joly lilac hybrid survives.

Neighbors

A couple blocks west of here lives a family in an ordinary house. They have 3 cars. All the cars are Crown Victorias. One is black, one is white and one is maroon. All the cars are perhaps 10 years old. All 3 Crown Vics have big black bumper extensions on the front so if they needed to push another car out of the way, they're set to do that. Maybe these cars were bought used from a police department. This family parks the 3 Crown Vics in the driveway. And they always park them facing out with the trunks tucked up close to the garage doors. I don't know who lives there but who ever it is, they're ready for action. My theory? CIA, FBI, or spies.

Happy Earth Day

Owl Adventure - the second pass

Photo credit to Siah St. Clair, naturalist, Springbrook Nature Center, Fridley, MN

Owl Adventure - the first pass

A Moment I Will Always Remember

I've had two birding goals this year-to see a horned lark and an owl. Any kind of owl would be fine for me. Tonight I saw an owl! My birding class went to the Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley. The naturalist there told us we would probably see a barred owl. He put on a leather glove and grabbed a little white mouse by the tail. We all stood near him and saw the barred owl adjust his perch so he could make a clean swoop for the mouse. The owl flew down in silence, grabbed that mouse and took off. The owl bit the mouse behind the head, killing it. Then it spent about 3 minutes swiveling his head looking for danger. When an owl moves like that, it gives away it's location to other predators. The owl wants to make sure it is safe before eating. Eventually the owl ate the mouse. That was awesome to see! Then the naturalist asked if anyone in the group wanted to feed the owl. I resisted the urge to be like Horshak (Oooh! Oooh! Pick me!) but my arm did shoot up without hesitation. He asked if I was comfortable holding a mouse in my hand. I lied and said, "Yes." I don't like mice, I would not hold a mouse, but wearing a glove, I would put aside my mouse fear to be that close to an owl. I asked, "Anyone have a camera?" The naturalist grabbed a camera. He had me stand away from the group and put out my right arm with the glove on it, palm up. He told me to keep my thumb low. I was hoping he would put the mouse on the glove for me because I wasn't about to touch a mouse with my bare hand and he did. As soon as that mouse was on my hand the owl took off from it's perch and swooped down to me. I saw it coming. The owl's wingspan was so wide I thought it would knock my head with it's wing so I started praying, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." I prayed aloud but quietly. At the last minute the owl pulled up and didn't take the mouse. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." The naturalist told me to sit still, the owl would come back. In the meantime I can feel the mouse exploring the territory on my glove. It was moving around toward the finger tips. What was I going to do if the mouse turned the other way and started up the sleeve of my coat? Stand there and let it crawl to my shoulder? I don't think so. The owl had returned to it's perch by now and the mouse was at the finger tips. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." Then the owl left the perch and flew at me in silence. I saw it's brown eyes and yellow beak. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God." I felt a soft slap on the palm of my hand and my moment was over. I will always remember this moment. Awesome! The photo above is a google image. If I get the photo from the naturalist, I will definitely post it here.

Introducing Dwight

This is Dwight. He's a rooster. You can see his comb starting to come in. This picture is a week old and he has grown into a gawky teenager now. His feathers are coming in on the sides and back leaving his head and breast looking oddly downy and awkward. He's having an attitude problem today. He rushes at the girls making them move out of his way or get bumped. He's the cause of lots of squawks in the coop. I don't know what has got into him. Has chicken testosterone set in? I set up a small run in the garage so the chickens have 3 feet of garage floor to explore if they get hot in the coop. Dwight is the one who will come the farthest out of the coop door while I'm looking. He'll come down two rungs of the runway. I'm not sure what to make of Dwight's aggressive behavior. Is it helpful? Maybe the chickens are getting stronger from his forced exercise on them. He had better watch himself. I'm raising these chickens for eggs and that makes him expendable.

Julie and Romeo

"Julie and Romeo" by Jeanne Ray is the latest book read by my book club. Not as many people liked it as I thought would like it. Some people, who I thought would not like it, did end up liking it. One fellow, never shy to share his feelings of dislike, called it a "romance" with the same feeling a wine connoisseur would say "Boone's Farm Apple Wine." I agree this book was "literature lite." I read it on a snowy Sunday afternoon and was perfectly satisfied to spend a couple hours of my time reading it. I can't always be reading serious literature. My mind needs a break from the heavy stuff once in awhile. And I wouldn't classify this as a romance novel. There is a character named Plummy that is very intriguing. She is Romeo's youngest daughter, the heroine of the romance, and the solver of family problems that go back 4 generations. The relationship between Julie and her daughter, Nora, is way too complicated to be in a typical romance novel. So if you are interested in a story about an older couple with complicated families, this would be a good book for you.

Birding

On Monday my birding class went to the Coon Rapids dam to look around. We saw an osprey nest on the Hennepin side of the dam. We found a great blue heron rookery down by Ceinako lake. We saw pied billed grebe and these look like ducks but don't have webbed feet so they're not actually ducks. They look like a duck and swim like a duck but not a duck. Grebes have the most amazing ability. They are divers. Unlike other diving ducks, they don't go down head first. Loons will raise themselves up and shoot into the water head first. Grebes sink straight down in the water like a submarine submerging. I've never seen anything like it before. Grebes have some kind of ballast system going where they can ride high in the water, low in the water (so only the top of the head shows), and completely under water. This morning I carpooled with a fellow birding student to meet everyone at the Sherburne Natural Wildlife Refuge. I rode in her car. She said she didn't mind driving her car. I asked what kind it was. "Mercedes," she answers. Suddenly the seat felt softer and the music sounded brighter. I don't know much about cars but I did notice how when she turned on the key her seat and the steering wheel pulled together to some preset position. So we rode in style. She says she knits. I tell her I knit. We talk about knitting stores and patterns. She says she gardens. I tell her I garden. We talk about perennials. She says she is in a book club. I say I'm in a book club. We talk about books. She asks me where I work. I say the Blaine Human Services Center. She says she works there too! "No way!" I say. "Way," she says back. We had a good time together. We met the others and started our tour. Lucky for us, the wildlife drive opened this very day for the season. The wildlife drive does not open until the eagle chicks have hatched and it must have just happened. We see cranes, geese, trumpeter swans, ring necked ducks, blue teal, buffle heads, coots, American kestrel, red tailed hawk, vesper sparrows, song sparrows, tree swallows, and a harrier. We watch a river otter frolicking in the swamp. In a thicket of woods, we see the first warbler to arrive in the spring - the yellow rumped warbler. See his picture at the top? His nickname is butter butt. These warblers are hard to see because they never sit still. As the group of birders stand at the side of the road looking at the cranes, teal, and buffle heads, an eagle flies up behind us and directly over our heads. The eagle makes a circle in the sky above our heads. Our birding expert tells us that Native Americans say the Great Spirit is giving us a blessing when an eagle flies in a circle around us. I feel very blessed today.

I Hear The Sound Of A Heavenly Choir

As you know, last year I bought a motorcycle. I've kept it in the garage. I was advised to wait until the streets are swept before taking it out so I don't slip on the sand. This week my street was swept so I tried to start the motorcycle. No dice. It didn't start. I've got plenty of juice from the battery but it sounds like it's not getting gas. I ask my friend Ed about it. Ed helped me find the motorcycle, buy the motorcycle, and bring it home. Ed says, "Remember last fall I told you to turn the gas off? Did you turn it back on?" D'Oh! I go home and turn the gas on and it still won't start. I talk to Ed again. Ed says, "Did you push in the throttle?" D'Oh! So this afternoon I get back on the motorcycle, make sure the gas is open, push up on the throttle, turn the key, and push the start button. Suddenly the clouds part, the sun shines down, and over the sound of the running motorcycle I hear a heavenly choir sing. IT STARTED! Now that it is running, I really should take it out for a short spin. I have stuff to do so I'll just drive around the neighborhood. I put on my jacket and the dorky/safe orange vest I bought this winter. I snap on my helmet and drive around the neighborhood. I wave at my neighbors walking their dog. Are my safety skills intact or have I become rusty? I roll up the driveway and take the first corner slow. I shift into second, into third, and into fourth. I slow down for the next turn and downshift. I remember to turn the signal off. I drive around the neighborhood twice and think I should go just a little further. I'll stick to the slow roads only and then come back home. I really shouldn't go too far until I know the bike is in good shape. I drive 30 mph for a few miles. Well, I might as well drive to Elk River as long as I am this far. Geez, there is a lot of traffic out here at 4:30. Maybe I'll go just a little way along the Mississippi where it is quieter. See, I do this every time I get on the road for a little ride. The ride goes a little further and a little further until I've gone much farther than I ever intended. I turned around in Big Lake and came home on the other side of the river through Monticello, Otsego, Dayton and Anoka. I am hooked again. I started out with 6,100 miles. We'll see how many more miles are put on before I store it again this fall.

Frog Class

I joined a group of master naturalists at a meeting at Carlos Avery on Wednesday evening. This was our first meeting. We had about 35 people in attendance and the class was about frogs and salamanders. I like frogs. I have a frog pin on my jean jacket and blue frogs decorate my mailbox. My first paying job was selling frogs ($1 per dozen and mostly to my Uncle Joe). I am most familiar with leopard frogs, tree frogs, and wood frogs. So I am sitting in this classroom intently listening about frogs when I hear a sound come in through the open window. Was that a dog? No. A wolf? There are no wolves here near Forest Lake. There is more than one. There is a whole pack of wolves. Or is it dogs? I know dogs, these are no dogs. This sounds like a pack of wolves and they sound like they're right outside the window. Not that I've heard a pack of wolves other than on television or in the movies. I contemplate standing up in a room full of 35 master naturalists to say, "Can't you hear the wolves?!" What if I am wrong? What if they cast me out of the master naturalist group for making such a silly mistake? But this has got to be wolves, right here in Carlos Avery. Finally the teacher says, "I wondered which wolf was yipping?" She explains they keep a pack of wolves there in Carlos Avery. I do not know why. We ask to see the wolves and are told we must make special arrangements first. The wolves calm down and our attention returns to the frogs. We listen to the sounds each of the seven frogs make. Some frogs sound like a Geiger counter, some sound like snoring, some like a wet finger rubbing a balloon. None of them sound as exciting as the wolves.

Dreams From My Father

Two thumbs up for the presidential autobiography. This book was written before Barack became a politician, back when he was president of the Harvard Law Review. The book explains Barack's internationalism and his struggle to be who he has become. He spends most of the book describing his father (whom he met only once) from the points of view of those who knew him. His father had issues, lots and lots of issues. The description of his father varies widely from person to person in his life but all agree, he had issues. At the end of the book, the author travels to Kenya. This was a good part for me because, having been in Kenya a little over a year ago, I could relate to his descriptions of Nairobi, the surrounding countryside, and the Mara Reserve. Hearing his Kenyan relatives describe his father influenced him significantly. Some men need to understand their father before they can be their own man. My only complaint is that I would have liked to hear more about Michelle but the book is dreams from my father, not dreams about my wife.

Am I The One?

Introducing Some Of My Peeps!

Say hello to Angela!

I am not sure who this one is, might be Dwight. I was hoping to get a picture of his comb because it's become noticeable in the past few days. And his legs are yellow while the girls have bluish legs. Correction, Offspring #2 says this is Kelly.

I am not sure which one this is next to the yellow egg.Correction, Offspring #2 says this is Meredith. Of course she's right. See all the freckles on her face? Redheads like Meredith always have freckles.
All photo and uploading credits go to Offspring #2!

Some Firsts of Spring

It's not all pussy willows and mergansers out there this spring. I saw my first wood tick today but to make up for that, I saw a yellow throated vireo and a red bellied woodpecker too. I spotted several mourning cloak butterflies. Offspring #2 and I went to enjoy the spring weather and pick up trash at River's Bend Park. As we drove away, our eyes spotted more bottles and cans in the weeds. After hunting trash for a couple hours, your eyes automatically keep searching for a while. In any case, there are 4 fewer bags of trash in the woods than there was before we came.

Maybe I Am A Birder

Maybe because I've been getting up extra early this week or maybe because I really am a birder, it was easier to get up this morning. I spent 2 1/2 hours looking at birds with my ornithology class. What fun! We had 12 in our group pooled into 3 cars. We drove around Diamond Lake in Dayton. Here's what we saw: flocks of mallards, flocks of Canadian honkers, flocks of cormorants, flocks of coots, 2 bald eagles (1 immature), common mergansers, hooded mergansers, red breasted mergansers, harrier, 3 bufflehead (see above - aren't they the cutest? They're the panda bears of ducks), 4 loons, many song sparrows, 3 sand hill cranes, 3 trumpeter swans, tree swallows, a hermit thrush, ring-necked ducks, a pair of red headed ducks, killdeer, robins, grackles, starlings, and red winged blackbirds. I am borrowing a spotting scope and I love it. I can really bring a bird into view. I'll have to get one for myself someday. We sat and watched the immature bald eagle sitting on the top of a tree for the longest time. Some people were watching it for a half hour before we came. After a while the eagle started peeling the bark off the tree. We thought it was eating something at first but it was just peeling bark. One guy was watching it closely. He said, "Look, its gonna do something!" We all trained our binoculars on the eagle. "It's gonna do something," he said again and then, "Oh, it crapped." The poor immature eagle has absolutely no privacy with a group like us around watching.

Chick Update-10 days old

After only a week post hatching, Dwight, the rooster, already is showing his manliness. When fresh water comes down into the brooder, Dwight has to be the first chicken to taste it. And he has to stand on top of the container and stretch his neck to see as far as can be seen inside a recycling bin. Oh, Dwight, you are such a man. Angela is also very confident. She likes to jump to the top of the feeder, peek over the top of the recycling bin, jump down, and do it all over again. Up, down, up down, Angela makes her rounds. She is the largest of the hens. Pamela, the one with the widest brown stripe on her back, is the smallest. Kelly, Phyllis and Meredith are all larger than Pamela. I really can't keep those 3 straight all the time. I don't want to spend too much time on it because their colors may change as they grow. All the chicks have grown. I can tell when I pick them up that they have more meat on their bones. The feathers on their wings have grown about an inch longer. Today the coop was delivered via semi-truck. The coop was slightly damaged in transit. Paint is chipped on 3 of the four legs and one leg has a chunk missing. It's still usable though. More disappointing is the run - it's the wrong color. The coop is red and the run is green. Luckily I won't need the run for another month so I'll have time to get this straightened out. I set the coop in the garage and added bedding. I moved the warming light to the coop. This afternoon the chickens saw the last of the inside of the house and moved outside where they belong. I think they are enjoying the chicken coop because they have more room than the recycling bin.

Car Talk Credits

Do you ever listen to the radio show, "Car Talk" on NPR on Saturdays? Two Italian guys answer questions from callers and give advice. They especially like viewers who are willing to recreate the troublesome automotive noises over the phone. These smart aleck mechanics offer mechanical suggestions and marital advice. One of them has a most contagious giggle. Here are the credits from the show. Read them carefully:

401K Statement Analysts…. Douse and Burnham Class
Attendance Monitor…. Julie Verley
Director of Preventive Maintenance…. Oscar Ruitt
Director of Vengence…. Ewell Rudy
Day Ponzi Scheme Operato…. Shirley W. Money
Seasonal Adjustment Disorder Specialist…. Mahmoud S. Bleak
Snowboarding Instructor…. Soren Dekeester
Used Car Salesperson…. Meg Meehan Hoffa
Werewolf Studies Specialist…. Harriet Knight
Accounts Payable Administrator…. Imelda Czechs
Air Traffic Controller…. Ulanda U. Lucky
Alternative Fuel Consultant…. Amanda Livering Cole
Anger Management Coach…. Kirsten Hollered
Appointment Secretary…. Stu Earley
Appointment Secretary II…. Amadeus O. Early
Art Critic…. Dot Snice
Assistant Director of Moral Support…. Hugo Gurll
Asst. Fleet Manager…. Lisa Carr
Asst. Transportation Coordinator…. Orson Buggy
Auto Seat Tester…. Fitz Matush
Back Seat Driver IIM…. ischa Turnov
Bad Joke Interpreter…. Nadia Geddit
Bunji Jumping Instructor…. Hugo First
Ice Rink Manager….. Sam Boney
Chief Cook and Bottle Washer…. Chef Boyar Ubusy
Child Transportation Specialist….. Minnie Van Driver
Copyright Attorney…. Pat Pending
Director of Standard Time…. Red Auerbach
Director of Staff Bonuses…. Holly Unlikely
French Vacation Specialist…. April Lynn Parris
Latin American Bullfighting Specialist…. Gordon Diaz
Lighting Expert…. Shanda Lear
Lug Nut Specialist…. Tad Tolouse
PR Director…. Bea Esser

I Am Rich With Sisters

How many sisters are you lucky enough to have? One? Three? Here is a link to a BBC article that says "Sisters Make People Happy" http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7977454.stmSisters

I have 5 sisters and a brother. I know they all make me happy sometimes and are especially useful in times of stress. They are willing to listen to me when I feel like complaining although one charges me for swearing. She charges 25 cents per swear word. Once, on a particularly rough day, I asked her if I could please just give her five dollars so I could get this story out without pause and she said no. She has her limits and swearing is one of those limits. Sisters are useful in helping through times of crisis and remembering events from years ago that I have forgotten. One of my sisters died tragically when I was four and she seven, forcing me into the role of the eldest when I really wasn't supposed to take that place. I remember her. I cherish and rehearse those memories like a miser counting money. I don't want to forget her. I've rehearsed those memories so many times I don't even know how accurate they are anymore. I remember playing on the east side of the house with our aunt who was about the same age as I was. It was summer time and we were wearing shorts and halter tops. My sister was playing with my aunt and I remember her saying, "Let Susie play." Awww, big sister sticking up for me. A big sister who wanted her 4 year old sister to be included in a child's game is an awesome sister. I remember her sitting on Dad's lap. I remember standing in a crib in the bedroom and she was in the other bed. My last memory is of her sitting with her legs between the iron bars of a bed headboard at Children's Hospital. I was standing outside in the parking lot. She waved at me through the window. I remember my Grandmother picking up my arm and moving it, making me wave back. After that my sister, my only sister at that time, was gone. No one talked about it much. Although she was physically gone, my big sister has always had a place in my heart and in my head. She's been there for me during times of celebration and times of hardship. Because she is gone, I am left to only imagine what she would say to me. She has been my forever friend.

Ruby The Strong

No story about Ruby is complete unless her strength is mentioned. She was strong. Her back legs were so strong she could pull me over if I wasn't careful. One day she was getting over excited by company in the back yard so I tied her leash around a leg of my picnic table. This is a heavy picnic table with redwood table top and seat and iron bars. I can barely move this picnic table and then only a few inches at a time. Ruby, over exuberant as usual, pulled that picnic table five feet in one direction before giving up. Another incident that featured her strength was at the Coon Rapids dam. I had joined 4 girlfriends to listen to live music at the dam and enjoy the summer evening. We were sitting at a concrete table with concrete benches. Ruby was under the table and we were chatting and listening to music. Unbeknownst to me, a mounted police was coming along behind me. Ruby took off toward that horse like a rocket. Her leash was around my wrist and she pulled me off the concrete bench and I landed flat on my back, very surprised and stunned. I turn my head after her to see her barking at the horse and the horse rearing up on it's hind legs. I got up as quickly as I could and brought her under control. The mounted police chewed me out in public. I can only imagine how horrible it would be to have your horse rear up in such a crowded setting. We both returned to the table with our tails between our legs. I was very upset with her behavior that day. Ruby and I used to walk in the Humane Society fundraiser called "Walk for Animals." This is an event with thousands of dogs. When I first got her out of the car, she would bark at a few dogs but after seeing a couple hundred, she generally gave up and calmly socialized with us. One year we had a bunch of kids with us and toward the end of the walk, along Theodore Wirth parkway, there was a huge hill of green grass dotted with thousands of dandelions. The kids wanted to sit on the hill and pick the yellow flowers. We were all tired from the 5 mile walk. I stood with Ruby at the top of the hill and watch the dog and owners go by on the street below us. Something down below triggered Ruby. She took off down that hill at a high speed. My hand was on the other end of the leash and I was standing there relaxed and unaware. She about pulled my arm off when she ran out of slack on the 4 foot leash. I had no choice but to follow. If I stopped, I would land flat on my face. I couldn't stop. Once you start walking fast down a steep hill, you have to keep going. But I didn't want to keep going. Down the hill we went, against my will, woman following dog yelling all the way, "Ruby! You consarnit dog!" The language might have been more colorful. Once we got to level ground I could stop and stop I did. It's funny to think of it now but I was so upset with her that day. The people on the road were alarmed by us. The people up on the hill, my so-called beloved family and friends, were laughing their heads off at us. They knew Ruby and they knew me so this was insanely funny to them. Ruby loved exercise. When we stayed at the cabin and I used my Dad's mini-bike to travel to the farm 2 miles away, Ruby loved to run along side the mini-bike. We'd stop at the lake so she could swim but she'd generally run the 2 miles several times a day. 12 mph was a good pace for her. As much as she drove me crazy sometimes, she was a strong dog; a friendly yet pushy dog. Even my memories of her are strong.

A Perfect Excuse Not to Cook and Clean

I stopped at the library yesterday to pick up a book I had reserved. The librarian put the dreaded red bookmarker in it. The red bookmark means it's a 10 day book. Other people are wanting to read it so I have only 10 days to read it before I will have to pay a fine. I was feeling whiney so I complained, "Oh, man, I hate the 10 days books!" She replied, "It's the perfect excuse not to cook and clean." I took her advice. I have not cooked or cleaned today. Instead I read Temple Grandin's book, "Animals Make us Human" Here is the review of that book plus a couple other books I have finished recently. Before I start, I have to admit that I am a Temple Grandin fan. I've read all the books by her that I have heard about. Temple is a woman who is known around the world for her work in animal husbandry. She audits slaughterhouses and farms for fast food restaurants. Her experiences as a person with Aspergers is less well known but an important part of her success. In this book, Temple talks about the basic rights of animals; freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, or disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom from fear and distress. After the initial chapter, she writes others about dogs, cats, horses, cows, pigs, poultry, wildlife, and zoos. Her theories are very interesting. She theorizes that dogs bites are more frequent as a result of the leash laws. Before leash laws, dogs roamed and socialized. Before leash laws, dogs learned when and how to be submissive. In her chapter about cats, she suggests black cats make better pets because they are more submissive by nature than orange cats. Temple says all animals have a need to seek (search, investigate, make sense of the environment). Without opportunities to seek, other emotions like fear and rage expand to fill the void. Temple writes a fascinating book and I finished it in one day - having done no cooking or cleaning.

"The Sweet Inbetween" is another good book I read in a very short time. In this novel, Sheri Reynolds writes about Kenny, a girls who looks like a boy. The story reveals why Kenny dresses and acts as she does. I always enjoy the "coming of age" stories and books set in the southern states so this was a win-win for me. This story made me wonder, why do women select their clothing? How many of us dress to protect ourselves?

The third book was written by Sue Miller and is called, "The Senator's Wife." Deliah is the name of the senator's wife and she is the ever gracious, accommodating, and generous woman - almost too good to be true. Sue Miller is a sensual and earthy writer and I enjoyed the book even though sometimes I was tempted to hit Deliah upside the head and say, "Wake up and smell the coffee. He's a dog and you deserve more."

Am I Cut Out To Be A Birdwatcher?

This morning the alarm rang at 6 o'clock. I was in the middle of a dream about dancing. I was none too happy about being woken up from dancing. In my dreams I am a regular Ginger Rogers. When awake I dance like an old lady with arthritis and spinal stenosis. That explains why I was not happy to be woken up on a Saturday. I swung my legs out of bed and wondered, "Why am I getting up this early on a Saturday?" I had just enough energy this week to get me through Thursday. I had a birding field trip. We were to meet at 7 on the east side of Round Lake in Andover to look at birds. Did I really want to go? I reluctantly got out of bed and dressed warmly to see the birds. Through my red and puffy eyes I did see birds. I saw a flock of common mergansers (see photo above). They may be common but I've never spotted one and knew what I was seeing before. One birder had a spotting scope. The spotting scope looks like a short telescope and sits on a tripod. He let me peek and there were two sand hill cranes whopping it up and bobbing their heads. The call they make reminds me of a cartoon sound. There is a bald eagle nest on the western edge of Round Lake. We saw the father and a juvenile sitting on the edge of the icy lake. The mother was hunkered down in the nest. We saw gulls and song sparrows, killdeer and red-winged blackbirds. We saw a line of Canadian geese fly over. The instructor asks why they are flying in a straight line. In my head I'm thinking these are illiterate geese and don't know how to form a V so they make an I instead. Turns out I am partially right. Most geese this time of year are flying in pairs. Geese don't mate until the 3rd year. These are probably 1 or 2 year old geese flying together. In the end I was glad I went. But tomorrow I am sleeping in and I hope to have another dancing dream. Later in the day I was talking to a friend of mine and telling him about my chickens. I told him these chickens are triggering mother hen feelings in me that were long dormant. My peeps are making me a little anxious. I keep looking at them to make sure they are okay. Sometimes they stand there and their eyes start to close and they get a little wobbly on their feet and they drop to the ground and sprawl out with their necks extended. I think they're dying! I poke them and they wake up, they're only sleeping. It weird how they go from awake to sleep so quickly. My friend is not at all sympathetic to my plight. He says I should worry about how I get them into the barbeque sauce. Ewww. When I got home I looked in the box and one chicken was missing. Dwight, the rooster, flew the coop. He was lying on the floor next to the brooder box. I picked him up and put him back. That sealed it. Now was the time to move them to the box with higher sides. They're in the recycling box now and they seem happy and probably a little warmer too.

Vegie Jambalaya

I tried a new recipe tonight and it turned out very tasty!

Ingredients: 1 cup uncooked brown rice, one bunch green onions (diced), 3 cloves garlic (sliced thin), 1/2 green pepper (diced), 1/2 cup kale (diced), 1 vegie sausage, 2 Quorn fake chicken cutlets, 1 can diced tomatoes with basil and oregano, 3 TB diced fresh parsley.

Cook the rice as directed. Saute the sausage and cutlets with the onion, garlic, and kale. Add the rice and tomatoes. Sprinkle crushed red peppers to taste. Add the parsley. Enjoy!

Definitions Change Over Time - Granny Panties

Then

Now

The Future? (Really, what is the point of wearing these?)

Chicken Riot

This morning I was so happy to see all the chicks alive and peeping. Everything was fine. It appeared that all of them were eating and drinking. I reached in the chicken brood box to remove the water. I filled the water container with fresh water and some electrolytes and as I reached to put it back, I saw an escapee. "How did you get out of there?" I asked in an evidently too loud voice because all the chickens started to riot. They crawled over each other and were all trying to escape. I modulated my voice, "Okay, okay, lets us all relax. We can't have a chicken riot here. Everybody is all right. Settle down. We'll put this one back in the box and this is where you will want to stay because the food and water are in here along with all your companions." Luckily my day started in Anoka instead of Blaine so I had the time to rig up temporary jail walls. I had to find something tall enough to restrain the eloping chicks and wouldn't get too hot and start afire from being near the heat lamp. I found an old aluminum half sheet cake pan and some plastic tote lids that fit the bill. As I drove away, I spotted the perfect box I could use to keep them warm and confined. My old blue recycling bin would work just fine. I was very glad to see my prison reinforcements held all day and the chickens were safe when I returned this evening.

One Of My Peeps

Here is a photo of one of my peeps. Cute, not? All are about the same size. Two have a dark cream colored body, two have a light brown colored body, and two have a dark brown colored body. All of them have stripes on their back in varying widths of black, brown and white. Their backs remind me of a chipmunk coloring.

Chick Arrival

The chicks arrived home safe and sound. As I drove home from Zimmerman and was approaching Mau's corner, a lone sandhill crane flew over my car - a good sign I think. I could hardly work today because I was so excited to bring the chicks home. More chicks were sent than I thought and the females were marked with red splotches on the top of their heads. I have 5 females and 1 male. My plan was to have all females but things don't always work out the way you plan. If I do decide to name the girls Carrie, Samantha, and Charlotte I will definitely name the rooster Mr. Big. I have photos but the Internet is sluggish and my patience is wearing thin. The chickens are here in the house to start out and I can hear them peeping as I type. I wonder if the canary will start sounding like chickens or if the chickens will start singing like a canary?